Catholic bishops fail to agree on statement on the economy

BALTIMORE — A divided Catholic hierarchy on Tuesday (Nov. 13) failed to agree on a statement about the economy after a debate that revealed sharp differences over the kind of social justice issues that were once a hallmark of the bishops’ public profile.

The defeat of the document, titled “The Hope of the Gospel in Difficult Economic Times,” followed an hour of unusually intense debate among the 230 bishops gathered here for their annual meeting. It left many of them openly frustrated that the prelates have not made a joint statement about the nation’s economic woes four years after the recession hit.
“This document is dead,” New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said with obvious disappointment as he brought the gavel down on the debate after it failed to secure the two-thirds majority needed for passage.

The failure of the bishops to pass the statement was extraordinary; in June, the bishops had authorized a special committee to write a brief reflection for consideration at this meeting, and the conference rarely rejects something produced by one of its committees.

A mature sense of justice can only arise in a human soul purified of selfishness, cowardice, or thoughtlessness. Thus, a just person is also one who cultivates a cohesive sense of the virtues of temperance, fortitude, and prudence. For example, to deny a hungry man a piece of bread when it is within our power to give it is both a sin against temperance and against justice. For if we greedily overestimate the importance of having more than enough, we will unfairly deny to a hungry person what in justice that person should have to survive. Temperance moderates our own appetites in accord with right reason.

Justice also requires fortitude. It is not enough to recognize what is owed in justice to another; it is also necessary that we have the fortitude to act on what we recognize. Unfortunately, many persons may see an injustice but lack the moral courage to act so as to remedy it. Justice also needs prudence. Prudence entails a steady ability to make decisions based on a realistic reading of the situation a person is facing and the true good at stake. It is possible to have a noble zeal for justice and a courageous will to seek it, but then fail to judge wisely the best way to secure it. To promote violence, for example, as a protest against injustices in the economy would be itself a sin against justice and a sign of a grave imprudence.

The bishops shame their office when they talk more about sex and less about greed while millions are suffering for no other reason than a voracious economy.